S. Korea Students Clash With Riot Police in 6 Cities
Thousands of students in six cities, shouting anti-government and anti-U.S. slogans, clashed with riot police Tuesday on the eve of the anniversary of a bloody civil uprising in the city of Kwangju.
The current wave of protests, which began Monday, continued to spread as dissidents and radical students prepared to mark the May 18, 1980, rebellion in which the official death toll reached almost 200. Dissidents say many times that number were killed as the military government crushed the revolt.
An estimated 22,000 college students in Seoul and the provincial cities of Kwangju, Taejon, Chongju, Pusan and Chonju hurled rocks and fire bombs in Tuesday’s protests, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
In Seoul, armored police vans fired salvos of tear-gas bombs into the crowds, while martial-arts squads charged the protesters. At least two students were injured.
“Down with the military dictatorship!” and “Yankee go home!” the students shouted as they clashed with riot police. About 40,000 U.S. troops are based in South Korea, whose government the United States has supported.
Students in Kwangju also burned effigies of President Roh Tae Woo, a top military commander at the time of the 1980 rebellion.
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